~ FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN ~

My big boy started KG this last Monday and he absolutely LOVES it!!! We are so glad he is adjusting well, he hasn't skipped a beat!! Trevor and I have to admit we are so excited for him to come home and tell us ALL about it!! We wish we could be a little fly on the wall and follow him around his day at school and see how he is and how he interacts with everyone!! He is so cute about all that happens, he just barely missed the cut off last year so he is an old KG and you can tell he has been ready to go for some time now!! We only live about 1/2 a mile from the school and so I thought we would just walk him to and home from school and we did the first two days of school but he kept telling me he wanted to ride the school bus and I told him, "I just want to make sure your safe, is that SO WRONG?" He didn't seem to care! Anyhow the bus comes right to our front door and since I have so many little ones to deal with that aren't adjusting well to the early morning wake up it is easier to have him ride and he LOVES it and so today he rode to school and home on the bus and says he wants to do it everyday, so who am I to hold him back???!!! :)All set and ready to head out to his very first day of Kindergarten, how cute is he?!!Walking down the hall to his classroom.........What a BIG man SO brave...................And this is Garrett and his KG teacher Mrs. Swackhamer. Each KG class room has a theme, his class room theme is Clifford the Big Red Dog and is decked out in Clifford, and when we brought him to the KG Teddy Bear Tea to see his room and meet the teacher he says to me, "Clifford is red and red is my favorite color so it is the perfect class for me, right?!" He is so funny!!Picking him up from school, SO HOT!!! We melted standing outside waiting for him in the 95 degree weather, feels like 103 due to the humidity!! We were soaked when we got home from sweating so much!! We decided to celebrate after we got Garrett because he did so good at school and was so brave we went to McDonald's and let the kids play in the toys and got an assortment of goodies to enjoy!! Afterward we got a movie from the red box for them and they got showered up and had a little pajama party, (Garrett's words). They looked so cute all sitting there watching their movie together we had to get a picture!! What good buddies they are!!I thought it was so cute that Porter was holding Brody's hand!! :)

Little Porter has really stepped it up and has been such a big helper to fill Garrett's shoes!! He says he is fine without Garrett and that he doesn't miss him but the other day I was talking to Trevor on the phone to see if he was still planning on getting Garrett at school and when I got off the phone Porter says to me, " What did Dad say?" I said, " He is going to go get Garrett!" Porter says, " I am SO glad, no that is not the right word, I am SO happy for Garrett to come home!!!" How sweet is that? And every day since then when it is getting close for Garrett to come home he says he is excited for Garrett to get home and then he wants to show him and tell him the things he has done and he asks Garrett what he did and wants to see all the work that Garrett brings home!!! I absolutely love it, I hope they always stay such good buddies!!! The first day Mason thought Garrett was lost and now he understands that he goes to, "cool!!" I love these little guys!! :)

I can FORGIVE like Joseph!!

Does this look like a kid who has been going to his Sunday school class now for FIVE & 1/2 MONTHS and has not said even ONE word!!??? This is one of many projects he has gotten to make in his class at church, he comes home so excited to show us and tell us all about what he has learned in class!! He tells me he loves his class and really likes his teachers and yet if given an opportunity to go up in sharing time and help do something fun even with MY help he will NOT!! Little Porter is SO SHY and it makes me SO sad to watch him miss out on so many fun things because he is too shy, I have been there most of my life and I wish him so much more than a lifetime of shyness!!! It breaks my heart. I asked his teacher if he will talk to her in class and she says, "No and actually one of the kids in class made a comment, 'I wish he would just say one thing, so we could hear him talk', SO SAD, and yet he comes home and seems happy as a clam, go figure!!

THE RESULTS of POOL TIME.....little FISHIES!!

The boys have come a long way from the beginning of the summer, a lot of thanks to Grandma Carol, whenever she has those boys they get to spend a long time playing at the pool!! Garrett can now swim without a life vest on due to Grandma Carol swim lessons and Mason use to not even want to get in the pool and now he is jumping in with Trevor and swimming around just holding hands with Papa Jim and Grandma Carol and little Porter wouldn't jump in or put his head under water and now he jumps in and will dunk his own head under water and they all love to splash people especially their Papa Jim!! Little Brody hasn't gotten as much swim time as the rest and it takes him a while to get warmed up to the idea, just like his Mom!! :) Garrett showing off his muscles!!

I love this picture, Garrett showing off his swimming skills, he thinks he is so cool and totally loves showing it off to Trevor and I!!

Porter is pretty quick at getting around the pool, I am NOT a swimmer, but I have found that I can get around a little bit and the boys and I had a swim race and Porter beat Garrett and I by a long shot, granted he is wearing a life vest but he is speedy!!

I love these pictures of Maso!! He has the best expressions!!! :)

Garrett LOVES to be thrown in the pool by his Dad!!! Trevor gets a little out of control sometimes and worries me, but Garrett always comes back for more!!!

POOL TIME!!

Grandma Carol stayed a week in The Woodlands while Jim was out of town on business and she invited the boys to come over and go swimming with her everyday and then they would go back to her apartment and eat lunch. Garrett's job was to bring the Ramen Noodles and a diaper for Mason and then they would pack a bag of pool toys and get lathered in sun screen, put there life vests and be on there way!! I really enjoyed it because they would head out as Brody went down for a nap and so I had time to get whatever I would like to get done, done!! The boys of course absolutely LOVED IT!!! :)

TUCK the TURTLE

This is Tuck our pet turtle for a day!! Papa Jim found him crossing the street about to get hit by a car and decided to bring him to our home for the boys to enjoy while Grandma Carol and him were watching them and Trev and I were at the Temple on Saturday!! The boys use to LOVE the cartoon Wonder Pets and there is a turtle named Tuck on it, hence the name Tuck the turtle!! The boys loved to watch him and Tuck didn't seem to be shy at all, he stayed out of his shell the whole time we had him and tried to escape his little home we had him in. The boys tried to feed him a piece of an apple and a rose leaf, Trevor thinks he ate some but I am not so sure!! At the end of the day we headed out and let him go at a nearby pond, he seemed right at home, he floated in the water for a second and then swam away super quick!! When we go walking by the pond the boys like to look for him and often wonder if he has found other turtles to be a family with and while I was out walking this morning I saw three little turtles sitting out of the water today and so I was able to let the boys know I saw Tuck with his new family and they were so glad to hear it!! Fun little boys!! :)

SHAYLA OLSON PHOTOGRAPHY

A girl in my ward did a service project where she set up a free photo shoot for kids in the community and we took advantage of it and these are the cute pictures we were able to get for FREE!!

WIPE OUT!!

Okay, so we are bad parents because Garrett is getting ready to go into kindergarten and is turning SIX in September and the poor kid doesn't know how to ride a bike without training wheels, in our defense we have never really lived in a good place for them to just go out and ride there bikes around and always having a small child and being large with child I haven't exactly made it my priority to get out and teach him. So Trevor and I with the help of his Papa Jim made an attempt to teach him back in May he was able to stay up for a bit and he was really excited about it, NO we had not got back on his bike until this last Saturday, I know, we are TERRIBLE!! So anyhow we got him back up on Saturday and he was doing good and wanted to show Grandma and Papa Stephenson after Sunday dinner so we head out and he is doing really well, even better then Sat. but he doesn't know how to stop real well and his blasted brothers wouldn't stay out of his way and YES he had a small collision with Mason and skinned up his elbow, it was very traumatic for him as you can tell by the look on his face........ Sooooo SAD!! :( Didn't faze Mase though, he just kept on smiling !! Luckily he still wants to get out and practice everyday so here goes hoping we can FINALLY finish our job of teaching this poor kid how to ride a bike before he gets to school!! Wish us LUCK, we are going to need it!! :)

MOVIE NIGHT!

Trevor had to get a picture of the boys half naked in there own rooms for movie night!! I know it is such a bad thing to have a TV in there own room, but we have limited space in this house and Trevor and I cherish the moments we have when the boys are quietly watching a movie in their own room so we can snuggle up on the couch and enjoy some alone time!!

COMMUNITY SERVICE!!

I am so proud of Trevor and Jim for taking the opportunity they had to serve in the Community Emergency Preparedness Fair and educate the people in our community on how to properly tarp your roof to prevent further damage in case of a leak. The LDS church put the fair together and Trevor and Jim seemed to enjoy the time they were able to serve and like always when you serve you are also blessed and Trevor has already recieved a lead for some roofing repair from someone who went to the fair. We are making it a goal to seek opportunities for ways we can countinue to serve our communitty!!

To be fair to both Jim and Trevor, I had to put both of these pictures on because one of them is looking a little off in one or the other!!

Tomball Summer Nights!!

This last Friday night we went to the small town of Tomball with Grandma and Grandpa Stephenson and enjoyed walking around this charming town full of antique shops and looking at the booths people had set up, listening to the music of small bands playing and radios blaring, the kids went on pony rides and climbed all over an old train on display. We then settled in our seats on the edge of the road and ate kettle-corn and funnel cakes while we waited for the, "kaprade" aka, the parade to start. Garrett calls it kaprade, and that is all he could talk about was when we go to the kaprade, making plans for the kaprade with his Grandma Carol, you never know what those two will be planning next!! :) Garrett LOVES to make plans with his Grandma Carol!! It was fun to be able to go and enjoy the charm of OLD TOWN TOMBALL!!In case you don't recognize what this is, it is a picture of a car that was literally wrapped around a telephone pole because of drinking and driving; they cut the pole out with the car, the two young kids that were in the car did not survive!!! So terribly sad!!! So CRAZY that a car can do that, it was insane looking!! I told Garrett what happened, he says, " that is what happens when you are naughty! Those kids were SO naughty!" Uh....okay, I guess he is right!!

Brody was a good sport hanging out in the stroller, missing out on all the fun!! It will be fun when he is finally able to run around and keep up with the rest of them!! He has started walking but he doesn't have it quite mastered yet!!

This is Brody yelling at the water bottle, have we mentioned he is a howler monkey!?

My very first night parade followed by a pretty darn good firework show!! Small town FUN!! :)